March 8 – I got up absolutely cold today. There was only the one small heater in our room. It is an old stone house so no central heat. Lol. I am on the Camino so must take this situation in stride and adjust my attitude to fit. I am thankful that I had a roof over my head and a blanket to keep warm. Truly what else could a pilgrim ask for?

We headed out at 8 am. There was a slight drizzle in the morning at the start but after that we had a fabulous cool walking day. We came upon one incredible view after another. I loved walking on this day. We walked on some Roman roads again today.

Karen ate her fourth pastel de nata. I don’t think she will be able to eat twelve before we leave Portugal. I must give her credit for trying.

I took pictures of flowers again. Springtime here for sure.

I even came upon a real mistletoe tree growing in someone’s front yard.

FATIMA AND SANTIAGO CAMINOs:

They share the same route part of the way. We often encounter pilgrims going our way in the opposite direction. They are the our Lady of Fatima Pilgrims. They follow the blue arrows instead of the yellow ones and often times they just follow the yellow arrows in reverse if the blue ones are not available. Here’s one where they were both on the same post.

Camino distance markers:

Only 135 kms to go. Excited and sad at the same time. Excited that we will finish soon and sad that our Camino adventure must end at Santiago.

We arrived at the Fortaleza in Valença at around 4;30pm. Our accommodations are within the fortified walls of Valença.

We could have walked over to Tui Spain this night but I chose to stay one more night in Portugal as I love this country and its people. I highly recommend that if you are planning to visit at least one country in Europe, make it Portugal. You will love it as I do. 💕

For dinner, we did not cook this night but opted for a fancy dinner with white table linen service.

Tomorrow we begin the next stage of the Camino from Tui Spain. We will take pictures of the Fort here in the daylight and will upload the pics hopefully with the next post.

Have a wonderful night or as they say in Spain ‘Bueno Noches’. We will begin to practice our very basic Spanish and probably use our limited French to supplement. No more English unlike in Portugal. No matter as it will be a beautiful experience as well.